I have been an avid Penn State Football fan since I was a kid.  I grew up in the Philly suburbs and attended my first college football game there when I was 10.  My big brother took me to watch Penn State versus Temple.  It was a lopsided victory for the Nittany Lions as would be many in the ensuing decades against the Owls.  At the helm was a scrappy young head coach named Joe Paterno.  I loved what Paterno and Penn State stood for – winning with honor – and promoted the school brand every chance I got.

Paterno would go on to lead Penn State to two national championships and over 400 wins, the most ever by a head coach.  JoePa as he is affectionately known stressed academics as much as he did athletics throughout his career.  Players routinely would be benched for missing classes.  In 1997 Penn State named the expansion of the school’s library the Paterno Library after JoePa helped raise and contribute over $13 million to the effort.  JoePa has stood for everything that was great in collegiate athletics – until this week.

With news of a child sex scandal coming out against Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State Defensive Coordinator and long time friend of Joe Paterno, the Board of Regents made the decision to fire both Paterno and PSU President Graham Spanier on November 9th.  While no criminal charges have been filed against Paterno, his lack of judgment and failure to act more aggressively resulted in the dismissal.

With dozens of victims coming forward making accusations against Sandusky, the character and fiber of one of the nation’s premier coaches and universities are being called into question.  These allegations were not regarding illegal contributions being made to football players by Penn State boosters.  Rather, they were concerning insidious predatory acts against dozens of young boys that took place on the Penn State campus over two decades.  The lives of these young boys and men will never be the same.  The statistics on those who have been molested are horrifying.

As I look back at the joy I have had watching JoePa lead the Nittany Lions over the past four decades to victory after victory, I am terribly saddened by what has taken place under his watch.  Joe Paterno and Penn State now need to do everything in their power to help those victims regain what they have lost. They must take whatever measures necessary to ensure this atrocity can never happen again.

I will be pulling for JoePa and PSU to act with the class and integrity they have spent the past 60 years buidling. Only time will tell how quickly the Penn State brand will recover and how JoePa will be remembered.